


Ribbons of Green

by lordkrisdemort



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Weird Plot Shit, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27667655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordkrisdemort/pseuds/lordkrisdemort
Summary: “So I can live only where we are together.”
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 18
Kudos: 32
Collections: Challenge #10 — Surprise Surprise





	Ribbons of Green

  
  


The sound of the bubbling water fills his ears like a lullaby.

For a moment, his eyes linger on the kettle which is resting on top of the bonfire in front of him; he’s boiling water to cook his instant noodle. The warm broth would be perfect while they're blanketed by the chilly air.

Then he looks up to the night sky, where faint ribbons of green shield the stars like a veil. Mesmerized, he lets his eyes wander over the horizon for the whole minute. He had always wanted to see the aurora with his own eyes, to bask in the ineffable beauty unfolding above him, to feel so close to something he could never reach.

"I wonder what's in your mind."

Upon noticing the warm, deep voice that had come from his right, he rips his gaze off and shifts it to the person sitting next to him on the cloth covered ground beneath them. A pair of round eyes are now staring back at him; the tenderness and warmth in the gaze are now filling his chest to the brim.

"Nothing in particular." He still ponders, but thinking is exhausting, and he'd rather use his energy to smile because of whom he's looking at.

"Am I in there?"

_You still ask?_ "Always."

Instead of a shy smile or a faint blush on the cheeks, what he gets is an unreadable look on the man's face. "That's not possible." The voice still sounds light, but why does his heart sting hearing it? "The moment your brain stops working, you won't be thinking about me then."

"Chanyeol," he groans softly, "can't you let me have my moment here?"

A surge of relief washes over him when he hears the deep timbre in Chanyeol’s laugh. “Come here.” He immediately dives into Chanyeol’s open arms, snuggling his head on the column of the man’s neck while an arm wraps around his back. “You look like you need some recharge. Good for you, I’m an unlimited energy source.”

“You are, you are.” He hums in contentment.

“Did the bad dreams bother you again?”

So solemnly, he nods, grazing the skin of his cheek against the soft and warm fabric of Chanyeol’s sweater. “It was somehow longer this time. And I can remember most of it vividly.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

He doesn’t. He could, but he won’t. There were too many horrible things that he saw, heard and felt in the latest dream. But he won’t tell Chanyeol that; he doesn’t want to taint Chanyeol’s ears with bad things. “Later, when I feel much better.” He murmurs. “But I can tell you that I wish I knew how to wake up much earlier. To cut the dream.”

For the next few minutes, they just stay in silence while Chanyeol gently pats his arm, as if he’s rocking him to sleep. Their wandering eyes are lost in the night sky, floating between the shades of green illuminating the surface, while the sound of the water boiling faintly fills the background. He tries to slow down his breathing; he believes that if he breathes slowly enough, the time would slow down along with it, and he could stay in the moment much longer.

“I think there’s a way, though.”

“A way to what?”

“To cut the dream.”

He leans away to look at Chanyeol curiously. Usually Chanyeol would not comment on his dreams and only comfort him if he had it bad, so it’s quite a rare sight to see.

“Maybe you can shock yourself awake.”

Sounds plausible. “And how do I do that?”

“By doing something that would give you a severe adrenaline rush, perhaps? Maybe jump off the top of a building, or suddenly stab yourself in the abdomen.”

“... so basically I should _kill myself_ in the dream so I could force myself to wake up?”

Chanyeol shrugs, the look on his face still calm and full of hidden thoughts. “If you stop existing in your dream, you have nowhere else to go but the reality, right?”

He frowns slightly at his lover despite not being able to mask his amusement. “I hate that I like the idea.” He chuckles. “Well, I hope I won’t think too much in the dream so I can just do it without a fuss.”

“You can do it. For the peace for your mind.”

Then he lays down to rest his head on Chanyeol’s lap. Somehow the conversation makes him feel a lot calmer. “For the peace of my mind.”

“So you can live only where we are together.”

He nods, a smile blooming on his lips upon the magnificent idea.

“So I can live only where we are together.”

The whistle blares from the kettle.

**===**

‘ _If you stop existing in your dream, you have nowhere else to go but the reality, right?_ ’

Now he fully sees the logic in those words.

“Mr. Byun Baekhyun, please get down from there!”

Instead of looking up at the aurora in the night sky, he’s now looking down over the backyard of the building eight floors beneath his feet while the sunlight burns the back of his neck. Instead of having a peaceful campfire picnic with Chanyeol, he's rotting in a mental hospital.

_This_ is the bad dream.

“Baekhyun, it’s dangerous! Get off the railings now!!”

He shouldn’t be thinking. He should just do it. He should just _jump_ to wake up.

“Baekhyun!”

No more thinking.

“Baek-”

He’s just doing it without a fuss.

Chanyeol is waiting.

‘ _So you can live only where we are together._ ’

Before everything turns black, he hears the blaring whistle from the kettle.

‘ _So I can live only where we are together._ ’

  
  


* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Baekhyun here couldn't differentiate dream from reality. But then, which one was the reality, which one was the dream, and who had the right to decide other than him? :)


End file.
